The Dharmaguptaka (Sanskrit: à ¤§à ¤°à ¥Âà ¤®à ¤Âà ¥Âà ¤ªà ¥Âà ¤¤à ¤Â; ; ) is one of the eighteen or twenty early Buddhist schools, depending on the source. They are said to have originated from another sect, the Mahëà ÂÃÂsakas. The Dharmaguptakas had a prominent role in early Central Asian and Chinese Buddhism, and their PrÃÂtimoká¹£a (monastic rules for bhiká¹£us and bhiká¹£uá¹Âës) are still in effect in East Asian countries to this day, including China, Vietnam, Korea, and Japan as well as the Philippines. They are one of three surviving Vinaya lineages, along with that of the TheravÃÂda and the Mà «lasarvÃÂstivÃÂda.
Guptaka means "preserver" and dharma "law, justice, morality", and, most likely, the set of laws of Northern Buddhism.
The Dharmaguptakas regarded the path of a à ÂrÃÂvaka (à ÂrÃÂvakayÃÂna) and the path of a bodhisattva (bodhisattvayÃÂna) to be separate. A translation and commentary on the SamayabhedoparacanaÃÂakra reads:
According to the Abhidharma MahÃÂvibhÃÂṣàà ÂÃÂstra, the Dharmaguptakas held that the Four Noble Truths are to be observed simultaneously.
Vasubandhu states that the Dharmaguptakas held, in agreement with TheravÃÂda and against SarvÃÂstivÃÂda, that realisation of the Four Noble Truths happens all at once (ekÃÂbhisamaya).
The Dharmaguptaka are known to have rejected the authority of the SarvÃÂstivÃÂda PrÃÂtimoká¹£a rules on the grounds that the original teachings of the Buddha had been lost.
The Dharmaguptaka used a twelvefold division of the Buddhist teachings, which has been found in their Dërgha ÃÂgama, their Vinaya, and in some MahÃÂyÃÂna sà «tras. These twelve divisions are: Sà «tra, Geya, VyÃÂkaraá¹Âa, GÃÂthÃÂ, UdÃÂna, NidÃÂna, JÃÂtaka, Itivá¹Âttaka, Vaipulya, Adbhà «tadharma, AvadÃÂna, and Upadeà Âa.
Between 148 and 170 CE, the Parthian monk An Shigao came to China and translated a work which described the color of monastic robes (Skt. kÃÂá¹£ÃÂya) utilised in five major Indian Buddhist sects, called Da Biqiu Sanqian Weiyi (). Another text translated at a later date, the à ÂÃÂriputraparipá¹ÂcchÃÂ, contains a very similar passage with nearly the same information. However, the colors for Dharmaguptaka and SarvÃÂstivÃÂda are reversed. In the earlier source, the SarvÃÂstivÃÂda are described as wearing deep red robes, while the Dharmaguptaka are described as wearing black robes. The corresponding passage found in the later à ÂÃÂriputraparipá¹ÂcchÃÂ, in contrast, portrays the SarvÃÂstivÃÂda as wearing black robes and the Dharmaguptaka as wearing deep red robes.
During the Tang dynasty, Chinese Buddhist monastics typically wore grayish-black robes and were even colloquially referred to as Zëyë (), "those of the black robes." However, the Song dynasty monk Zanning (919âÂÂ1001 CE) writes that during the earlier Han-Wei period, the Chinese monks typically wore red robes.
According to the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya, the robes of monastics should be sewn out of no more than 18 pieces of cloth, and the cloth should be fairly heavy and coarse.
A consensus has grown in scholarship which sees the first wave of Buddhist missionary work as associated with the GÃÂndhÃÂrë language and the Kharoá¹£á¹Âhë script and tentatively with the Dharmaguptaka sect. However, there is evidence that other sects and traditions of Buddhism also used GÃÂndhÃÂrë, and further evidence that the Dharmaguptaka sect also used Sanskrit at times:
Starting in the first century CE, there was a large trend toward a type of GÃÂndhÃÂrë which was heavily Sanskritised.
The Gandharan Buddhist texts, the earliest Buddhist texts ever discovered, are apparently dedicated to the teachers of the Dharmaguptaka school. They tend to confirm a flourishing of the Dharmaguptaka school in Northwest India around the 1st century CE, with GÃÂndhÃÂrë as the canonical language, and this would explain the subsequent influence of the Dharmaguptakas in Central Asia and then East Asia. According to Buddhist scholar A. K. Warder, the Dharmaguptaka originated in AparÃÂnta.
According to one scholar, the evidence afforded by the Gandharan Buddhist texts "suggest[s] that the Dharmaguptaka sect achieved early success under their Indo-Scythian supporters in GandhÃÂra, but that the sect subsequently declined with the rise of the Kuá¹£ÃÂá¹Âa Empire (c. mid-first to third century A.D.), which gave its patronage to the SarvÃÂstivÃÂda sect."
Available evidence indicates that the first Buddhist missions to Khotan were carried out by the Dharmaguptaka sect:
A number of scholars have identified three distinct major phases of missionary activities seen in the history of Buddhism in Central Asia, which are associated with the following sects, chronologically:
In the 7th century, Xuanzang and Yijing both recorded that the Dharmaguptakas were located in Oá¸Âá¸ÂiyÃÂna and Central Asia, but not in the Indian subcontinent. Yijing grouped the Mahëà ÂÃÂsaka, Dharmaguptaka, and KÃÂà Âyapëya together as sub-sects of the SarvÃÂstivÃÂda, and stated that these three were not prevalent in the "five parts of India," but were located in the some parts of Oá¸Âá¸ÂiyÃÂna, Khotan, and Kucha.
The Dharmaguptakas made more efforts than any other sect to spread Buddhism outside India, to areas such as Iran, Central Asia, and China, and they had great success in doing so. Therefore, most countries which adopted Buddhism from China, also adopted the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya and ordination lineage for bhiká¹£us and bhiká¹£uá¹Âës. According to A. K. Warder, in some ways the Dharmaguptaka sect can be considered to have survived to the present in those East Asian countries. Warder further writes:
During the early period of Chinese Buddhism, the Indian Buddhist sects recognised as important, and whose texts were studied, were the Dharmaguptakas, Mahëà ÂÃÂsakas, KÃÂà Âyapëyas, SarvÃÂstivÃÂdins, and the MahÃÂsÃÂá¹Âghikas.
Between 250 and 255 CE, the Dharmaguptaka ordination lineage was established in China when Indian monks were invited to help with ordination in China. No full Vinaya had been translated at this time, and only two texts were available: the Dharmaguptaka KarmavÃÂcanàfor ordination, and the MahÃÂsÃÂá¹Âghika PrÃÂtimoká¹£a for regulating the life of monks. After the translation of full Vinayas, the Dharmaguptaka ordination lineage was followed by most monks, but temples often regulated monastic life with other Vinaya texts, such as those of the MahÃÂsÃÂá¹Âghika, the Mahëà ÂÃÂsaka, or the SarvÃÂstivÃÂda.
In the 7th century, Yijing wrote that in eastern China, most people followed the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya, while the MahÃÂsÃÂá¹Âghika Vinaya was used in earlier times in Guanzhong (the region around Chang'an), and that the SarvÃÂstivÃÂda Vinaya was prominent in the Yangtze area and further south. In the 7th century, the existence of multiple Vinaya lineages throughout China was criticised by prominent Vinaya masters such as Yijing and Dao An (654–717). In the early 8th century, Dao An gained the support of Emperor Zhongzong of Tang and an imperial edict was issued that the Sangha in China should use only the Dharmaguptaka vinaya for ordination.
The GandhÃÂran Buddhist texts (the oldest extant Buddhist manuscripts) are attributed to the Dharmaguptaka sect by Richard Salomon, the leading scholar in the field, and the British Library scrolls "represent a random but reasonably representative fraction of what was probably a much larger set of texts preserved in the library of a monastery of the Dharmaguptaka sect in NagarÃÂhÃÂra Afghanistan."
Among the Dharmaguptaka GandhÃÂran Buddhist texts in the Schøyen Collection, is a fragment in the Kharoá¹£á¹Âhë script referencing the Six PÃÂramitÃÂs, a central practice for bodhisattvas in MahÃÂyÃÂna doctrine.
In the early 5th century CE, Dharmaguptaka Vinaya was translated into Chinese by the Dharmaguptaka monk Buddhayaà Âas (ä½ÂéÂÂè¶èÂÂ) of Kashmir. For this translation, Buddhayaà Âas recited the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya entirely from memory, rather than reading it from a written manuscript. After its translation, the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya became the predominant vinaya in Chinese Buddhist monasticism. The Dharmaguptaka Vinaya, or monastic rules, are still followed today in China, Vietnam and Korea, and its lineage for the ordination of monks and nuns has survived uninterrupted to this day. The name of the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya in the East Asian tradition is the "Vinaya in Four Parts" (), and the equivalent Sanskrit title would be Caturvargika Vinaya. Ordination under the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya only relates to monastic vows and lineage (Vinaya), and does not conflict with the actual Buddhist teachings that one follows (Dharma).
The Dërgha ÃÂgama ("Long Discourses," é·é¿å«綠Cháng ÃÂhán Jëng) (T. 1) corresponds to the Dëgha NikÃÂya of the TheravÃÂda school. A complete version of the Dërgha ÃÂgama of the Dharmaguptaka sect was translated by Buddhayaà Âas and Zhu Fonian (竺ä½Â念) in the Later Qin dynasty, dated to 413 CE. It contains 30 sà «tras in contrast to the 34 suttas of the TheravÃÂdin Dëgha NikÃÂya.
The Ekottara ÃÂgama ("Incremental Discourses," å¢Â壹é¿å«綠ZÃÂngyë ÃÂhán Jëng) (T. 125) corresponds to the Aá¹ guttara NikÃÂya of the TheravÃÂda school. It was translated into Chinese by Dharmanandi in 384 CE, and edited by Gautama Saá¹Âghadeva in 398 CE. Some have proposed that the original text for this translation came from the SarvÃÂstivÃÂdins or the MahÃÂsÃÂá¹Âghikas. However, according to A. K. Warder, the Ekottara ÃÂgama references 250 PrÃÂtimoká¹£a rules for monks, which agrees only with the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya. He also views some of the doctrine as contradicting tenets of the MahÃÂsÃÂá¹Âghika school, and states that they agree with Dharmaguptaka views currently known. He therefore concludes that the extant Ekottara ÃÂgama is that of the Dharmaguptakas.
The à ÂÃÂriputra Abhidharma à ÂÃÂstra (èÂÂå©å¼Âé¿æ¯ÂæÂÂè« Shèlìfú ÃÂpÃÂtán Lùn) (T. 1548) is a complete Abhidharma text that is thought to come from the Dharmaguptaka sect. The only complete edition of this text is in Chinese. Sanskrit fragments have been found in Bamiyan, Afghanistan, and are now part of the Schøyen Collection (MS 2375/08). These manuscripts are thought to have been part of a monastery library of the MahÃÂsÃÂá¹Âghika LokottaravÃÂda sect.
The Dharmaguptaka Tripiá¹Âaka is said to have contained two extra sections that were not included by some other schools. These included a Bodhisattva Piá¹Âaka and a Mantra Piá¹Âaka ( Zhòu Zàng), also sometimes called a DhÃÂraá¹Âë Piá¹Âaka. According to the fifth-century Dharmaguptaka monk Buddhayaà Âas, the translator of the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya into Chinese, the Dharmaguptaka school had assimilated the "MahÃÂyÃÂna Tripiá¹Âaka" ( Dàchéng SÃÂnzàng).
The Dharmaguptaka biography of the Buddha is the most exhaustive of all classical biographies of the Buddha, and is entitled Abhiniá¹£kramaá¹Âa Sà «tra. Various Chinese translations of this text date from between the 3rd and 6th century CE.
It is unknown when some members of the Dharmaguptaka school began to accept the MahÃÂyÃÂna sà «tras, but the Mañjuà Ârëmà «lakalpa records that Kaniá¹£ka (127âÂÂ151 CE) of the Kuá¹£ÃÂá¹Âa Empire presided over the establishment of PrajñÃÂpÃÂramitàdoctrines in the northwest of India. TÃÂranÃÂtha wrote that in this region, 500 bodhisattvas attended the council at JÃÂlandhra monastery during the time of Kaniá¹£ka, suggesting some institutional strength for MahÃÂyÃÂna in the northwest during this period. Edward Conze goes further to say that PrajñÃÂpÃÂramitàhad great success in the northwest during the Kuá¹£ÃÂá¹Âa period, and may have been the "fortress and hearth" of early MahÃÂyÃÂna, but not its origin, which he associates with the MahÃÂsÃÂá¹Âghika branch.
Jan Nattier writes that available textual evidence suggests that the MahÃÂyÃÂna Ugraparipá¹ÂcchàSà «tra circulated in Dharmaguptaka communities during its early history, but a later translation shows evidence that the text later circulated amongst the SarvÃÂstivÃÂdins as well. The Ugraparipá¹Âcchàalso mentions a fourfold division of the Buddhist canon which includes a Bodhisattva Piá¹Âaka, and the Dharmaguptaka are known to have had such a collection in their canon. Nattier further describes the type of community depicted in the Ugraparipá¹ÂcchÃÂ:
The MahÃÂyÃÂna RatnarÃÂà ÂivyÃÂkaraá¹Âa Sà «tra, which is part of the MahÃÂratnakà «á¹Âa Sà «tra, is believed by some scholars to have a Dharmaguptaka origin or background, due to its specific regulations regarding giving to the Buddha and giving to the Saá¹Âgha.
According to Joseph Walser, there is evidence that the Pañcaviá¹Âà ÂatisÃÂhasrikàPrajñÃÂpÃÂramitàSà «tra ("The Perfection of Wisdom in 25,000 lines") and the à ÂatasÃÂhasrikàPrajñÃÂpÃÂramitàSà «tra ("⦠in 100,000 lines") have a connection with the Dharmaguptaka sect, while the Aá¹£á¹ÂasÃÂhasrikàPrajñÃÂpÃÂramitàSà «tra ("⦠in 8000 lines") does not. Instead, Guang Xing assesses the view of the Buddha given in the Aá¹£á¹ÂasÃÂhasrikàPrajñÃÂpÃÂramitàSà «tra as being that of the MahÃÂsÃÂá¹Âghikas.
The translator Buddhayaà Âas was a Dharmaguptaka monk who was known to be a MahÃÂyÃÂnist, and he is recorded as having learned both HënayÃÂna and MahÃÂyÃÂna treatises. He translated the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya, the Dërgha ÃÂgama, and MahÃÂyÃÂna texts including the ÃÂkÃÂà Âagarbha Bodhisattva Sà «tra (èÂÂ空èÂÂè©è©綠Xà «kà Ângzàng PúsàJëng). The preface written by Buddhayaà Âas for his translation of the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya states that the Dharmaguptakas had assimilated the MahÃÂyÃÂna Tripiá¹Âaka.
The Dharmaguptakas were said to have had two extra sections in their canon:
In the 4th century MahÃÂyÃÂna Abhidharma work Abhidharmasamuccaya, Asaá¹ ga refers to the collection which contains the ÃÂgamas as the à ÂrÃÂvakapiá¹Âaka, and associates it with the à ÂrÃÂvakas and pratyekabuddhas. Asaá¹ ga classifies the MahÃÂyÃÂna sà «tras as belonging to the Bodhisattvapiá¹Âaka, which is designated as the collection of teachings for bodhisattvas.
ParamÃÂrtha, a 6th-century CE Indian monk from Ujjain, unequivocally associates the Dharmaguptaka school with the MahÃÂyÃÂna, and portrays the Dharmaguptakas as being perhaps the closest to a straightforward MahÃÂyÃÂna sect.